Getting From One Place to Another

I attended a meeting at the United Nations Non-Government Organization Committee for Education Learning and Literacy that I belong to.  The featured speaker was a beautiful young woman who has cerebral palsy who addressed the many challenges she faces as a person with disabilities, including body image, transportation, working and acceptance. 

While she has a physical disability, she shares many of the concerns of those young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and other cognitive disabilities. Just being able to be accepted by her peers and other adults as "normal" has been a challenge, so she started a blog about beauty, especially for young women and girls with disabilities, and how to accept yourself as beautiful and worthwhile. 

She also talked about one of the greatest challenges, which is transportation and how getting around New York City and other places from one destination to another affects her whole life in ways we cannot imagine. This includes getting to work on time or working late, getting to doctor's appointments, staying at a friend's home and then returning home and so forth. 

Her use of Access-A-Ride, a service for NYC residents, is very unreliable and needs to be booked two days in advance.  How can any of us anticipate where and when we need to be somewhere two days ahead of time on a regular basis? Just imagine that a friend asks you to have dinner or a boss asks you to work late but you have no way of getting there or back home.  Most of us take getting around whenever we need or want to for granted, but in the disability community this is a huge concern, especially as adolescents transition to adulthood and begin to obtain independence.    

—Dr. Carol K. Kennedy, Ph.D.